Online broadcaster caught livestreaming drunk driving

By Kim Rahn

An online broadcaster has been caught airing her drunk driving live.

Officers at Gangnam Police Station said Sunday that they are investigating an independent broadcaster of online platform Popkon TV, surnamed Im, 26, for drunk driving charges. A man who was in the car with Im, identified as Yeom, 29, was also booked for aiding and abetting the crime.

Im allegedly drove a car under the influence for about 700 meters from a bar to a motel in southern Seoul at around 8 a.m. on Nov. 2.

Police received a report from a viewer that Im was airing her drunk driving in real time. The viewer told police that she had been drinking at a bar in Nonhyeon-dong and was driving toward Yeoksam-dong, passing Gangnam-gu Office Station, adding that he did not know the license number but that the vehicle was a blue mini coupe.

Officers confirmed Im was still broadcasting at a motel, and searched eight motels in the region before finding the blue mini coupe at one place in Nonhyeon-dong, catching Im and Yeom.

Im's blood alcohol level was 0.086 percent, subject to license suspension. She admitted to driving under the influence.

“It was during the period of the police's intensive crackdown on drunk driving, but she drove under the influence as if she was ridiculing the police, and broadcasted it online where thousands of people were watching,” an officer said.

Besides Im's case, a growing number of independent broadcasters are producing increasingly sensational content, often involving crimes, because their income depends on viewers' attention while streaming their shows.

A YouTuber, surnamed Kim, 48, was arrested last week for making a disturbance at a police station and broadcasting the scene live.

According to the Sasang Police in Busan, Kim drunkenly grabbed police officers by their throats and cursed at them at a police station in the district at around 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 23. He aired the scene live.

He had been booked earlier in August for a separate case, as he announced he would kill one of his viewers, with whom he'd had a scuffle over game content, and went to the viewer's home in a taxi. Some other viewers reported this to police, and the police caught him near the home. The entire process, from the scuffle and the announcement to the police nabbing, was broadcast.

According to the Korea Communications Standards Commission, 81 independent broadcasting shows received disciplinary actions, such as operation suspension or channel closure, in the first eight months of this year, a more than threefold increase from last year's 26.